Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Luster by Raven Leilani

77 reviews

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

meowkira's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Medical content, Drug use, Death of parent, and Death

heademptybookcasefull's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

juanita's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, and Racism

lreads's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Racism

Minor: Police brutality

anygivenmemory's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book has a unique writing style. It's like you never quite get into Edie's emotions or thoughts, but rather are told only what she does; leaving her feelings up to you to speculate on. Some of the metaphors and descriptions in this book were unusual and refreshing, so I look forward to seeing what the author can do in the future. However, since we didn't get that emotional component, I felt somewhat disconnected from the characters.

The characters are all flawed. This is not a plot heavy book but rather a character study of both the characters themselves and their relationships with each other. I felt that some aspects of the little plot there was were not addressed and so you weren't quite sure what exactly transpired. For example,

did Rebecca shoot the neighbor's dog with the gun? Did the attack by the police cause Edie's miscarriage? Is anyone ever going to address Eric's drug/alcohol abuse and his desire for violence towards women?

I kept hoping we would see more growth from Edie...that she would realize she deserved better...but I guess true growth is slow and filled with misteps and falling into old habits.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Abortion, Addiction, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

culown's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

carodonahue's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Extremely well written, with a character who refuses to conform to tropes, which makes the story that much more human. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Miscarriage

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

Minor: Animal death and Suicide

annie_122's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Blood, Excrement, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death and Medical content

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Racism

nicollecooper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

Minor: Abortion, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Eating disorder, and Animal death